Cost of bike trail project divides Port council

Port Washington aldermen on Tuesday agreed to apply for a grant that could pay 80%, or about $1.6 million, of the cost of improving the Ozaukee Interurban Trail by routing it under the railroad tracks in the area of Oakland Avenue and Spring Street.

But the approval came on a split vote, with aldermen Paul Neumyer, Mike Gasper, Jonathan Pleitner, Michael Beaster and Mary Lou Mueller voting to hire TKDA, a Wauwatosa consulting firm, to submit an application for the grant and aldermen Deb Postl and Dan Benning voting against it.

TKDA will be paid $10,000 for the engineering work, which will be done to meet a June 9 deadline for the application.

The vote came despite a recommendation by the General Government and Finance Committee that the city not apply for the funding. Benning and Postl voted not to apply for the grant while Pleitner voted to seek the funds.

If approved, the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant would pay 80% of an estimated $1.5 million to $2 million project to reroute a portion of the bike trail, sending bicyclists and pedestrians through an underpass the city would build on the north side of Oakland Avenue near Spring Street.

The city would be responsible for 20% of the funding, or about $400,000.

“We would work tirelessly to raise the money,” Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven said, through donations and grants and with the help of Ozaukee County.

The project has been eyed by the city and Ozaukee County since the bike trail opened in 2002, Vanden Noven said, but a lack of funds and  difficulty in obtaining permission from Union Pacific Railroad kept it on the back burner.

The city received a grant to help finance the project in 2005, he said, but the money was redirected to building an off-trail connection on the city’s north side between the Holiday Inn Express and Port Washington Town Hall.

The work, Vanden Noven said, “takes nearly one-half mile of trail that’s currently on-street off the street.” Other than downtown, he said, this is the only portion of the bike trail in the city that is on the street.

The biggest hurdle is the cost, Benning, chairman of the General Government and Finance Committee, said.

“We weren’t sure where this fits without a 10-year (capital) plan,” he said. “I’m struggling with committing a future council to what I’d say is a $400,000 expenditure.

“Conceptually we like the idea of the project. If it was a 100% grant, let’s do it.”

Postl concurred, saying the committee needs more time to consider what other projects would need to be shelved to pay for the bike trail work.

But other aldermen said the project is needed to improve safety for the many residents and tourists who use the Interurban Trail.

“I fully support this,” Neumyer said. “That area of the bike path is pathetic. I think it would be a big improvement.”

“This really offers an opportunity to connect neighborhoods,” Gasper said. “This wouldn’t be the first time we went for a grant without a definitive source for the funding. Sometimes, when the opportunity comes up, we’re better off going for the funds.

Mueller said, “I think this is an excellent way to go about it. Nothing lost, nothing gained.”